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How to save a couple of strings to internal storage in android?

I'm trying to develop a simple notepad on android. But I don't know how to save my notes(strings) to internal storage(or to an SQL database if it's faster). if I used internal storage would I be able to save a couple of strings and get them back? I'm a beginner to mobile application development and this is my first project. so I'd really appreciate it if you could show me a sample code so I can learn from it. Thanks!

A database is an option, therefore you'll definitively have to read the follow page, that helped me a lot. There is also some sample code in it.
http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidSQLite/article.html
In paragraph 9.7 is the full code for adding, editing and deleting records...
An other option is saving the string in an .txt file and save that on the storage. Than this might bring you further:
Write a file in external storage in Android
Good luck!

You can save it in shared preference if it is not too big.
To store:
SharedPreferences sharedPref = getSharedPreferences("SomeName", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
Editor editor = sharedPref.edit();
editor.putString("String1", value); // value is the string you want to save
editor.commit()
To retrieve:
SharedPreferences sharedPref = getSharedPreferences("SomeName", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
String retrievedString = sharedPref.getString("String1", defaultValue);
"SomeName" ---- the preference name
"String1" ---- key for the string you want to store/retrieve
defaultValue ---- in case the key is not available, this is the retrieved string

Best way to retrieve values in android mobile apps

While developing an android app, which is the best and efficient way to retrieve values from the below options:
To get values from a property file or
To get values from app shared preferences.
I like to know this based on memory usage and speed of retrieval.

Edit:
IMO there's no better way as those two options would be used for different purpose.
SharedPreference gives you an easy way to build a user editable Preference page via the PreferenceActivity and to share preference trough your application.
For other purpose as user editable settings you could use Properties files to store data.
For properties you have two good examples here:
http://www.mkyong.com/java/java-properties-file-examples/
http://myossdevblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/reading-properties-files-on-android.html
For SharedPreference see here:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#pref
An example:
final SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(getBaseContext());
final String yourPref = sharedPreferences.getString(getString(R.string.settings_tag_your_pref), "");
or if you don't want to define a tag in string:
final String yourPref = sharedPreferences.getString("your_pref", "");

Best way to store a single user in an Android app?

I'd like my app to allow a single user to create a profile that is accessed every time they run the app. The user's profile contains a String entry and five int entries. I've thought about using an SQLite database to store the info between sessions, but it seems like overkill since I'd only need one row in a single table to store the data. However, I'm not sure if it's possible to use SharedPreferences on a String type of data.
Can anyone provide some insight into this issue please? Thank you!

Yes you can use SharedPreferences.
To write
Editor editor = getSharedPreferences("file_name", MODE_PRIVATE).edit();
editor.clear();
editor.putString("pref_name", myStringValue);
editor.commit();
To read back
SharedPreferences preferences = getSharedPreferences("file_name", MODE_PRIVATE);
String myStringValue = preferences.getString("pref_name", "default_value");
Regards.

android save settings and information

i am new to android, i searched a lot and couldn't find a satisfying answer; what i need is to save some setting for my application such as
1> language, number of items to display, display/not display images, etc...
which i think is best done using the shared preferences
2> save which data categories to get from the internet...
here is my problem:
i have data divided into category objects with key, name, type, data[]...(data[] is changing all the time and not saved after exiting the application),(key, name, type are final values defined by programmer).
and because there are many categories which the user may or may not want to load(around 25), he/she can choose which categories to display, and these choices must be saved.
i think using shared preferences will not help because of the complexity of the data; i was thinking of using sqlite or xml, not sure which is the best choice keeping in mind efficiency and memory size.
note: i am using a global variable for the category information array, that is because data[] needs to be refreshed automatically every 2-3 minutes and must be available to all activities also efficiency and memory space are an issue.
i will appreciate any advice, thank you in advance.

1> SharedPreferences is the right choice
2> you have multiple possibilities
a) Use the internal storage and use Object Serialization (for simplicity reasons), xml (if you want to exchange the data) or use a own format
b) SQLite is the fastest solution. But you have to do more programming for that
b would be my choice, so create a DB-Object (static or singleton pattern) and write functions for every database task

1) Yes, SharedSettings should help youy. There is plenty information around, but post back if you are lost.
2) I would make a table with all the categories and a boolean value thats says "show" where you can keep if the user wants to show it or not.
Of course it depends on the size of the categories and how much they change, because otherwise you will be updating the database forever.

User shared preference in store your setting,
SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = this.applicationContext.getSharedPreferences(preferencesName, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
//For saving the setting:
//for storing long
SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPreferences.edit();
editor.putLong(key, value);
//for storing string editor.commit();
SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPreferences.edit();
editor.putString(key, value);
editor.commit();
//and similarly for int,float etc
//For Retrieving the string:
sharedPreferences.getLong(key, defaultValue); //for long value
sharedPreferences.getSting(key, defaultValue); //for string value

saving the values in database of sd card in android

I am developing a small android application in which I have to save the values in database.
How should I pursue?

Do you want to use database or shared preferences for your applications? If you are looking for shared preferences, the following is a piece of code that demonstrates how to store and retrieve a username and password.
//Saving the username and password
editor = getSharedPreferences("SampleApps", 0).edit();
editor.putString("userName", "David");
editor.putString("password", "Bravo");
editor.commit();
//Retrieving username and password
SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("SampleApps", 1);
String userName=sharedPreferences.getString("userName", null);
String password=sharedPreferences.getString("password", null);
I hope this is what you are looking for.

In Android, you can use both Shared preferences and database to save the data permanently in the device.
By using Shared preferences, the data are saved in XML format. You can find the data in /data/data/yourPackage/shared_prefs. It is a simple format recommended to have variables.
For more complicated structure, you should use the database that comes with Android, which is SQlite. You can find the database in /data/data/yourPackage/databases SQL sentences could be used to create tables and add values. For easier use, an adapter is recommended.
For more information, there is very good tutorial in the Android official page:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html